Contenidos sexistas en los textos escolares de Estudios Sociales: una mirada de los docentes de Básica Media

Abstract

Sexism is latent in various school settings, and one of the most evident is in textbooks. In this regard, children are exposed to educational materials whose contents reproduce sexism either directly or indirectly, as well as to sexist attitudes from their peers or even from teachers themselves. With the aim of understanding teachers' perspectives on sexist content identified in Social Studies textbooks, a qualitative study was conducted using interviews. The participants were 10 teachers—5 men and 5 women—from urban schools in the city of Cuenca. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The results show that teachers recognize the presence of sexist content in Social Studies textbooks, particularly through graphic representations where male figures are predominant or through the assignment of gender-based roles. However, despite being aware of the existence of such content, teachers face limitations that prevent them from addressing it comprehensively and thus contributing to the eradication of sexism. These findings highlight the need to revise textbook design in order to integrate genderfocused topics into the development of educational materials and to prevent sexism in them.